The Red Sox’s firing of manager Alex Cora, along with his entire coaching staff, was arguably the biggest shock to come out of MLB this season. Names like Trevor Story, Wilyer Abreu, and Carlos Narváez broke down in tears. Thus, proving that the clubhouse was just as shocked as the fans and insiders.

The Red Sox’s last position in the AL East, with an 11-17 record, was enough to suggest what was coming. However, while the fans wonder if Cora’s removal would revive the fortune for Boston, ace Garrett Crochet is more than just shocked by the recent developments.

“We’ve been playing terribly,” Crochet said. “I feel like those guys paid the cost of our own crime. That’s the tough part you have to battle internally, I suppose. It caused a lot of us to be introspective.”

Crochet was honest enough to blame the players. But he just renewed the age-old debate around MLB’s common practice of scapegoating the managers. Be it with Pedro Grifol getting fired by the White Sox in 2024 or Bud Black by the Rockies last year, the managers always paid the price for the team’s slump. Cora was not an exception.

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Still, it is the players who take the field to perform. For reference, Crochet emerged as a top-tier ace last year with a 2.59 ERA, 255 SOs, and 205.1 innings pitched over 32 starts. This year, even after seven shutout innings, he has a 6.30 ERA. That shows the extent to which the team struggled on the mound. Then Roman Anthony, the Red Sox’s best find last year, recorded .288. This time, he’s hitting .217 with just 1 homer recorded.

So, when both the offense and defense falter, a manager has a very limited scope to turn things around. Crochet feels the same. “Ultimately, I blame myself a lot for where we’re at this year,” Crochet added.

In the first game against the Orioles, starter Brayan Bello allowed 8 ERs for 2 SOs. The Red Sox ended up giving up 10 runs. What could a manager do in this case other than replace him with a reliever? Cora did that, but two more runs were still added.

Last year, the Rockies fired Bud Black when they were 7-33, and despite his dismissal, they finished the year with a 43-119 record. It was a bit of improvement, but still ended as a basement dweller in the division. Now, all eyes will be on the Red Sox to see whether they can turn around their future.

“We can still win the World Series,” Anthony stays confident despite Cora’s ouster. But if not this time without Cora, the Red Sox president will be the next in the firing line.

The Red Sox are paying the price for their offseason

If you wonder what made the Red Sox struggle this year, the answer lies in the offseason.

The biggest miss of the Red Sox’s offseason was Alex Bregman. Craig Breslow’s defensive stance of not offering long-term contracts haunted the team as they struggled with offense. Bregman is currently hitting .252 with the Cubs, and the Red Sox are ranked 20th in terms of team average (.233). So, the team is still paying the price of Bregman’s absence.

“I think there is going to be a time where we behave as the Red Sox have,” Breslow said back in 2024. “And we need to make sure that when we do that, we do it in a very disciplined way.” However, his “disciplined” offseason style deprived the Red Sox of a marquee free agent this year.

Johan Oviedo, Sonny Gray, Ranger Suárez, Caleb Durbin, and Willson Contreras were some of the names the Red Sox landed this year. In reality, Oviedo is struggling with a 9.82 ERA, Gray with a 4.30 ERA, Durbin with a .169 average, and Contreras is better with a .253 average. So, there’s no doubt that the Red Sox’s offseason decision is making the team pay in the regular season.

Even Breslow acknowledged that he gave Cora “a challenging roster to manage,” particularly with the everyday lineup.

Now, Cora is gone, and if the team still can’t come out of their slump, Breslow will be the one to face the heat next.